Of the 22 Anglican, United, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches
they surveyed, all in Ontario, nine were growing, and 13 were declining.

Based on that research, they concluded that the more
theologically conservative a church is, the more likely it is to be growing.

The implication of the research seemed to be that if a church
wants to grow, it should be more conservative.

But a United Church in Winnipeg disagrees.

I’m talking about Charleswood United Church, a
theologically progressive congregation that finds about 350 people attending
services every Sunday.

According to minister Michael Wilson, the church is doing well
because it is a “friendly and welcoming place, warm and active.”

Being the only United Church in Charleswood also
helps, he acknowledges, but he says that people from other denominations are
attracted by the church’s gay-friendly, progressive and liberal stance.

For Wilson, it isn’t as much about whether a church is
conservative or liberal, “as much as it is a willingness to change.”

Many churches, he says, “wait too long to make needed changes.
The congregation shrinks to a size where it isn’t sustainable. Changes need to
be made when it is still healthy.”

He cites, for example, Charleswood’s worship style. It is
still liturgical, he says, but it is also “adaptable and flexible”—the church
has a traditional choir, but it also has a worship band.

Leadership plays a big role, says Wilson, who has been at Charleswood for
22 years.

“Leaders need to create a culture of permission,” he says. “We
have to not get in the way when people feel called to do something new and
different.”

This doesn’t mean that anything goes, he says, “but if it feels
right, and people are enthusiastic, let them go to it.”

This can be scary for some churches, he notes, since it means
giving up control. But thriving churches, he believes, don’t have “a small
group determining how things are done,” but rather are “dynamic, organic,
fluid.”

The key, he says, is to be always asking the question: “What is
God calling our congregation to do?”

This can also mean going against the way things have always been
done, either as a church or denomination.

“There has traditionally been a United Church way of doing
things, having to operate in a certain way,” he says. “But revitalized churches
are doing it their own way.”

Even though Charleswood is liberal and progressive,
Wilson says that he is “surprisingly orthodox. I’m Trinitarian, and I believe
in the authority of scripture. I’m progressive in interpretation.”

Ultimately, he says, “it’s not about being liberal or
conservative, but paying attention to people and their needs, honouring people
where they are at, affirming them, creating a safe place, being welcoming.”

“The common denominator is that people who come here, like
coming here.”

One of the places Wilson draws inspiration from for his ministry
is Hillhurst United Church in Calgary.

Unlike Charleswood, which had been mostly stable over the
course of its history before increasing, Hillhurst “died and was born again,”
says its minister, John Pentland.

When he arrived, in 2005, the congregation was down to about 50
people, and talking about closing.

Today about 500 people attend two services each Sunday, he says,
noting that a third of the congregation are United Church, a third are from
other denominations, and a third claim no church background at all.

To what does he attribute the turnaround?

It takes time, he says, and “leadership that casts a vision” and
isn’t “afraid to let some things die.”

Pentland believes many people are looking for what liberal and
progressive churches like Charleswood and Hillhurst offer.

“The culture is starved for what we are doing,” he says. “People
are trying yoga, meditation—they want something spiritual. But the church isn’t
providing it.”

That, he says, is why many aren’t growing. “They aren’t paying
attention to the culture.”

For Pentland, “there’s never a better time to
be the church . . . people
are searching for meaning and they want a place to belong. They want a place to
question. Same old, same old doesn’t work.”

At liberal churches like Charleswood and Hillhurst,
it’s a formula that seems to be working.